VERNON — The Board of Education is expected to propose a new policy Thursday aimed at clarifying procedures for the restraint and seclusion of behaviorally challenged students deemed at imminent risk of hurting themselves or others.

By a 6-3 vote last week, the board endorsed a resolution approving the use of seclusion as a crisis management procedure, subject to the stipulation that parental consent be required for its use and that the final policy language — along with the district regulation setting forth the rules governing its application — be subject to board approval.

The proposal, which would require a second vote at the next board meeting in June to take effect, follows deliberations on the matter that began several months ago. If approved, it would codify district guidelines regarding the practice and also spell out the lighting, ventilation, color scheme and other elements required of any room used for seclusion purposes.

Following that vote, an ad hoc committee consisting of Coughlin, Magee, Mitchell and Sparta — along with members of the school administration and the district's Special Education Parent Advisory Group, which consists of parents of students with disabilities who meet monthly to discuss special education issues — was charged with drafting a policy for the board to consider this Thursday.

Prior to the vote, Annunziata said he would only support the final policy if it specifically required parental permission.

“There are two schools of thought on this practice,” Annunziata said. “There are those who feel it's a very necessary practice and tool, and there are those who strongly disagree with its use, but I don't feel it's up to me to be making that determination. This is a determination that needs to be made by the professionals and parents who work with that child.”

“I will vote to support this resolution,” he said, “but I will only vote for the policy and regulation if it includes a parental consent piece — and it has to be very explicit and clear-cut language that spells out clearly that that parent is allowing this practice to be used with their child.”

Superintendent Karen D'Avino said the district's practice is to promptly notify the parent of any child on whom restraint or seclusion has been used.

Restraint, as defined under state law, involves direct physical or mechanical means that reduce or limit a child's movement. The practice is currently in use as a crisis management tool in at least two district schools, according to D'Avino.

Seclusion involves the involuntary confinement of a student alone in an empty room or other area from which he or she is prevented from leaving for a given period of time. Rolling Hills Primary School is the only district school with a seclusion room at this time, but other district schools could follow suit if the specific needs of their student populations warrant it, according to D'Avino.

D'Avino said restraint and seclusion have been in use in public schools for a decade or more.

However, a new state law enacted in January 2018 established detailed parameters for their use, including the requirement that staff members receive training in positive behavioral interventions and other de-escalation techniques aimed at averting the use of restraint and seclusion whenever possible.

In response to the new law, the state Department of Education issued guidelines last July that said restraint and seclusion should be used “only for cases involving imminent danger of serious physical harm” and never as a disciplinary or punitive measure.

DIFFERING VIEWS

Although the new law stopped short of banning the use of restraint and seclusion altogether, several parents who spoke at the March and April board meetings urged the board to reject their use.

Among them was Leslie Macbeth, president of the district's Special Education Parent Advisory Group, who cited cases where restraint and seclusion had allegedly resulted in “serious physical injury, psychological trauma, and even death to students in both public and private schools.”

“Research confirms that restraint and seclusion are not therapeutic, nor are they an effective means to calm, discipline, or teach children — and they may even have the opposite effect,” Macbeth said. “There are schools in New Jersey that choose not to seclude even though they legally can. Let's be one of them.”

Kelly Brooks, a member of the Special Education Parent Advisory Group and trainer for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, told the board that for children such as her daughter who have been subject to seclusion, the experience can be traumatizing. She said she understands the need for restraint and removal of a child in an emergency situation but takes issue with seclusion.

“These children already struggle being in school, and putting them into a room by themselves with the door closed or locked can be a traumatizing event,” she said. “These children need tools and resources to calm themselves down, not to be placed into solitary confinement.”

Isolating a child, she suggested, can itself trigger rather than prevent a violent outburst.

“Those who deal with this know full well that children being restrained and secluded seem to have a superhuman strength,” she said. “Why? It's a fight-or-flight response.”

A panicked child in that situation, she said, may perceive that others are trying to hurt her.

In her daughter's case, “I knew they weren't trying to hurt her, they were trying to keep her safe — but in her mind, she felt they were trying to hurt her and that she needed to hit, kick, scream and punch. Her anger, which she didn't know how to control at that time, was telling her that.”

Rather than being “put in a room alone and stared at from the outside, she needed a safe, appropriate setting and to have tools, sensory items, and someone who could talk her off that ledge.”

Some who work with behaviorally challenged children disagree and believe restraint and seclusion are necessary as a last resort in some cases.

Shannon Irish, a special education teacher at Rolling Hills Primary School, said allowing for seclusion in an emergency is “paramount” for students with behavior disorders.

“When a student is at the point of needing seclusion, the student's ability to reason or regain self-control is no longer under their control,” said Irish.

Before any student is secluded, she added, steps are taken to de-escalate the situation. “Sometimes these steps work, and sometimes they don't,” she said.

By the time a student reaches the point of needing seclusion, she said, “the student's ability to reason or regain self-control is no longer under their control. If you have a student who is kicking, screaming and throwing things and potentially injuring themselves or others, putting them in a room with the door open is not going to protect them because then it becomes a struggle to get out of the room and a battle with whoever is standing there.”

Without allowing for seclusion, she said, “you will be limiting the ability of the staff to manage the behaviors of the student and protect the student, their peers, and themselves from harm. The long-term consequence is that these students will need to be sent out of the district, which will be a huge expense.”

Deborah Merrill, director of special services in Vernon, suggested seclusion may actually help avoid the need for restraint. As evidence, she read a letter from a parent who told how her second-grade daughter had been “prone to multiple meltdowns daily” and how the seclusion room had helped her daughter have a more manageable day at school.

Prior to seclusion, “attempts were made at Cedar Mountain to create a calming sensory corner that included a sensory swing. We tried everything,” the parent wrote.

Despite these attempts, she said, her daughter kept coming home with self-inflicted scratches on her face and body every time she had an episode.

“When she would melt down, she would hit, kick, head-butt, and throw reachable objects. The sensory corner itself would become a danger to her, her teachers, her aides and the other students,” she wrote. “During the meltdown, there is no talking to her, no reasoning with her, and no bargaining.”

She said that in the absence of seclusion, attempts to restrain her daughter would often extend the duration of the meltdown and increase the possibility of injury.

“The seclusion room is a sanctuary, not a punishment,” the parent wrote. “My daughter will even request this room when she is melting down, to help her calm down faster and safer, or when she's feeling overwhelmed by increased noise or anxiety.”

Eric Obernauer can also be contacted on Twitter: @EricObernNJH or by phone at 973-383-1213.

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